TheRetroCritic

We ask only the important questions on podcast  The Big Rewind .

So I watched Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens and, let me tell ya... This is not the Wars you're looking for. For one thing, the title makes no sense when you're actually watching the movie. The "Force" Awakens? The Force is not mentioned once during the entire film! I distinctly remember the Force being mentioned at least four times in the original sexylogy.  Maybe five. And as for the "Awakens", the only way that makes any sense at all is by linking the main actor, whatever his name is, who looks a heck of a lot like Robin Williams, to a film starring the iconic comedian himself called Awakenings . Then again, this movie has nothing to do with that other movie so, again, we find ourselves in a pickle.  The droids are all wrong. They're too blocky and they look too much like plastic robots. Now I understand that J.J. Abrams ( Felicity ) was very keen to go "old school" and use "practical" effects

Based on a novella (and a novel) by sci-fi maestro Isaac Asimov, Bicentennial Man had one wacky premise to work with and it sure rolled with it: a robot butler living for 200 years and, in that time, becoming a living, breathing human being. Robin Williams stars as Andrew, the candid android bought by Sam Neill's family and, for a good portion of the film, he is in full robot attire looking like an old-fashioned automaton you'd see in a comic strip from the 50's. And, as odd as that sounds, seeing as the film is set in the not-so-distant future of 2005, that adds some retro charm to the film. Since Bicentennial Man, of course, spans a heck of a lot of years, the movie approaches Andrew's story a little like Forrest Gump as we skip through the years, occasionally checking in on what the android is up to. The character is pretty naive throughout, even if he does grow gradually and, by the end of the movie you do feel like he's been through a lot. That said, the